Windshield rain shield



. R. P. MARTlN wINDsHiELD RAIN SHIELD Filgd April 19, 1924 Inval/vdo@ v anni Patented Bee. l5,

UNITED [STAT-Es PATENT? OF-F1'CE;g4 Y

ROBERT I. MARTIN,`OFISEATTLE,\V'ASHINGTON, ASSIGNOR, BY DIRECT AND MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, OF ONE-FOURIIFI T0Y HUGH ,MULLIGAN, FORTY-SEVEN V,ONE-I-ITJ'II'r- DREDTHS TO DANIEL MULLIGAN, ONE-TENTH TO CLARENCE M. TUCK, AND THREE ONE-HUNDREDTHS'TO'EUGENE DURAN, vALL AOF SEATTLE, W'ASHINGTONQ4 i wINnsHIELD RAIN' SHIELD.

Application fnedaprrii i9, Y1924. seriai N o. 707,605.

To all whom t may conce/ra: l yBe it known that I, ROBERT P. MARTIN, a citizen of the United States ofAmerica, and resident of the city of Seattle,'in the county of King and State ofl/Vashington, have invented certain newl and useful Improvements in Vindshield Rain Shields, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to a rain shield which is particularly intendedl for employment upon moving vehicles to protect the 'wind-y shield thereof from the rain,- to the Aend that the drivers vision is not obscured by rain falling upon or running down over the surface of thewindshield. f

It is an object of my invention to provide means which themselves are of but vslight vertical extent and which will therefore, but little obscure the drivers vision, vbut which are so placed with relation to each other and` l to the windshield, and with relation to ,the

angle of impact of rain Ydrops with 'the moving vehicle, thaty they will intercept all rain drops which would otherwise strike the windshield and will cause them to be -deflected or drained downward Without :permitting themlto strike the windshield'at the point where they would obstruct the drivers vision.

A further object` isthe provision of a rain shield of the .type .described,rin association with a visor orsun shade, and particularly the provision of a rain shieldwhich can be adjusted both with relation to the individual lmembers of the rain" shield and with relation to the visor. n Y l Y A .further Objectis-the provisionof a simple, cheap, and effective rain shield, and.y

one which maybe moved into inoperative vposition to be out of sight .during clear weather. Y .Y y l My invention comprises those novel parts and combinations thereof which are shown in the accompanyingv drawings, described in the specification and particularly defined by the claims terminating the same.'

In the accompanying drawings I yhave shown .my invention in the formA which is .nowv preferredv by me.

Figure l is a. perspective view and Figure 2 a transverse section of my preferred"fQImy .which the driver must look. Y

,t Commonly such a rain'shield would bey Y shown as strips 1.

of vrain' shield, shown applied, to a windshield', A l. Y l. a `Figure'B is afsectionlthrough a modiiied .form` of rain shield.

i Ffgure s an end Velevation of a further modification, the `windshield being shown` in sec-tion'.r

` Essentially my inventionconsists inthe emplo ment of one ormorev transversely exten ing members :having but slight vertical extent, that is to say, extending in a vertical'direction, as seen from. the drivers seat, but a slight distance, to the end Jthat they drivers vision is the least interrupted,

and so positioned that rain drops' moving along a line which is the component o f the forces acting 4upon the rain falling vby' gravity or driven by the wind, asv modified by 'the `movement of the car itself, will be intercepted and prevented 'fromk striking that portion Vof the ,windshield thr employed in association with a visor 2 suitably supported -from the top 30 ofthe frame about theywindshield 3. Such a visor would intercept rain drops which might strike the uppermost portions of the windshield 3, but

could not/extend down far enough toV intercepty all rain drops which. would interfere with the* drivers vision, without` itselfseriously interfering therewith, particularly oughl Y if. itis not made of atransparent material su'ch as glass. As I prefer to form the visor 2, it is made ofmetal, hence while it will serve as a sunvisor or shade, it mayxnotextend 'downward to a point .where it will interfere withthe drlvers vision, and consequentlymay not kextend down Vsuiiicit-intlyV far to interceptall rainV ydrop s which would interefere with the drivers vision, for when 'the' car is in'motion the: angle .of impact of the rain drops will be very low, perhaps 15V or 20 from thehorizkontal.

vv In order'to intercept the raindrops which would fall on the lower portions of the windshield, therefore, I provide Atransverse members which in the preferred form are are 'positioned ene in front-of another, the

v These strips are sup. ported inladvancev ofthe windshield 3 andv forward strips each being placed somewhat above the strips in the rear thereof, to the end that a line drawn downwardly and rearwardly, from the bottom edge of a forward strip 1, at the angle of impact with falling rain, will strike below the upper edge of the next rearward strip 1. rlhis is indicated by the lines R in Figure 2. By thus positioning the members 1, each will intercept its share of the rain drops and each will protect a surface of the windshield not protected by the other strips, but overlapping the area protected thereby, to such an extent that lrain will not pass through the series of strips but will be intercepted thereby and will drop therefrom without striking the windshield. By spacing the strips 1 in the manner described, the driver is left an area between them of considerable extent, particularly as his vision is directed forwardlyand downwardly, along the lines V in Figure 2, through which area hemay observe the road ahead. rThe strips 1, which may be of metal or which may be of `a transparent material, having but slight effective vertical extent, and being well in advance of the drivers eyes, only slightly intercept the vision of the driver.

In the preferred form of the invention,

shown in Figures 1 and 2, the strips are directly supported from side bars v11, which normally extend downwardly and'rearwardly Afrom the `forward edge of the visor 2, and "which are pivoted to this forward edge, as indicated at 12. By thus supporting the strips 1 and side bars 11, the elevation of thestrips 1 vrelative to each other may be adjusted, as for example Yby 'a slotted link 13 connecting the swinging ends ofthe side bars 11 with the visor 2, and a bolt and clamping nut 14 serving to maintain the links 13 in adjusted position relative to the visor. When it is not raining, the rain shield may thus be drawn up under the visor and out of the way, as has been indicated indot-and-dash lines 'in Figure 2. i

It is important for the success of this device that ythe forward 'or rain-impacting or receiving surface ofthe bars 1 which form the grid, should be angularly positioned in such inanner that the spatter of rain striking thereon will be downwardly rather than upwardly. It may with reasonable truthfulness be said that the direction of movement of the rain relative Vto the 'car will never be horizontally. .It'may under extreme conditions be l'at as flat an angle as 10O or 15 to the horizontal. If, therefore, the yfront o'r rain-impacting 'surfaces of the grid bars 1 be in horizontal planes, there-will be an angular direction of D to 15 which will insure downward fdeection of the spatt'ered rain. 'llhis 'will be enough to insure lsuch spatteredrain -frein one bai' being caught 'tl'e'b'li nt rearward bf ail Beloit', @111115 preventing its getting on the windshield. lf the angle of the forward rain impacting faces be increased the above actionis intensified. In addition the air will also be deflected downwardly, thus adding to the protective eect in thesame way side or wing shields protect the driver of an open car.

It may be desirable, in order to increase the effective vertical extent of the rain shield members without increasing their vertical extent in the line or vision, to provide horizontally extending portions on each, which will increase the angle from the fo-rward edge of the visor, which is intercepted thereby. To this fend I have shown the vertical strip 1 in Figure '3 as provided with a substantially horizontal shelf 15. Thus, rain falling at the normal angle of impact, which would ordinarily pass below the edge of the verticalstrip 1, will be caught on the shelf 15 and thus b'e prevented from striking the windshield 3. The shelf 15 cannot be of too great extent, however, as otherwise rain will strike upon it land glance therefrom over the upper edge of the strip 1 and will strike the windshield 3. In order to move this form of rain shield out of the way or to adjust it vertically, I have shown it as pivoted on a link 13 pivoted to the viso-r and to the vertical strip 1. Any suitable catch may be employed to hold it in elevated position. Y

Alfurther modification is shown in Figure 4, wherein the strips 1 are supported one in advance of the other and at different elevations, being supported upon longitudinal bars 16 which are not solid but which merely space the two bars 1 longitudinally, thus permitting the driver to look between the strips 1, which are at different elevations.

It will be understood that various drains yand rain channels as, for example, the gutter 22, as shown in Figures 2 and 3, particularly, may be employed to carry away rain either from the visor or from the individual rain shield members. Itfwill be evident also that while it is preferable'to employ a visor 2, the particular form thereof is immaterial.

lVhat I claim as my invention is:

1. A rain protector for automobile windsliields comprising a grid of bars extending horizontally lengthwise of the windshield and having forward rain-impacting surfaces positioned at an angle which deflect-s the :spatter of rain received `thereon downwardly, said gridbars being separated and disposed in a a plane which inclines from its forward Vedge downwardly towards the rear.

2. A rain protector for automobile windv.shields comprising a grid of bars extending horizontally j lengthwise of y the kwindshield 'Bild heifig Qiw'a'd rain-impacting surfeces and a visor extending from the windshield.

forwardlyto cover said grid.

3. A rain protector for automobile windshields comprising a grid of bars extending horizontally lengthwise of the windshield and having forward rain-impacting surfaces positionedV at an angle which delects the spatter of rain received thereon downwardly, said grid bars being separated and disposed in a plane which inclines from its forward edge downwardly towards the rear, and means for swinging said grid out of the way when not needed. y e l 4. A rain protector for automobile windsliields comprising a grid of bars extending horizontally lengthwise of the windshield and having forward rain-impacting surfaces positioned at an anglevwhich deflects the spatterv of rain received thereon downwardly, said grid bars being separated and disposed in a plane which inclines from its forward edge downwardly towards the rear, a. viser extending from the vwindshield for\ wardly to cover said grid, said grid being hinged by its forward edge to the visor vand .means for adjustably supporting its rear edge from the visor to permit its being swung up and supported against the under face of the visor.

5. A rain protector for automobile windshields comprising a visorextending for' wardly Vfroin the upper edge of the wind shield anda grid of bars extending lengthwise of and below the visor and lying in an inclinedl plane extending fromthe visor backwardly and downwardly towards the windshield.

6. A rainprotector for windshields comprising a forwardly extending visor, a grid of yindividually separated rain intercepting bars extending lengthwise of the windshield, the' forward edge of the grid being carried from the visor and the plane of the grid extending rearwardlyl and downwardly toward the windshield.` l i 7 A rain protector for windshields comi' prising a forwardly extending visor,` a grid ofV individually separated rain intercepting bars extending lengthwise of the windshield, the forward edge of the grid being carried Vfrom the visor and the plane of the grid extending rearwardly and downwardly t'oward the windshield, and means for adjusting the angle of the plane of the grid.

Signed at Seattle, King County, kWash-v day of April 1924.

ington, this .12th

y ROBERT P. MARTIN. 

